BROCKWAY — The boys of fall had all their fun between late August and early November. The boys of winter then got to hit the hardwood from early December all the way until early March. Now, Curwensville’s shift is from being indoors to once again being outside. This time though, the field of play has no hash marks or end zones, but instead is covered with dirt, foul lines, and gloves. The Curwensville Golden Tide officially were back on the baseball diamond on Monday afternoon as they hit the road to face off against the Brockway Rovers.
Much like many games in years past, this one would be high-scoring and down to the wire, and on this afternoon it was the Tide getting the better of the opposition, rallying from behind to take a 10-9 victory in the season opener.
Both teams would go scoreless through two innings, even with Brockway loading the bases in the first inning, putting starting Tide pitcher Logan Kunkle in an early jam in the young season. With only one out, he managed to get out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts, stranding three on base.
The third inning was when Curwensville struck. After a single by Cael Butler, and advancing to second on a wild pitch, Christian Fegert connected on a full-count pitch to left field, making his way to second for an RBI-double to open the scoring. Two batters later, after an Andrew Pentz single and stolen base, Logan Kunkle would pop out to short, but it was enough for Pentz to score following the tag up at third. A pair of RBI-singles from the Sutika boys, Ayden and Merek, made the score 4-0 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Brockway answered right back, as Kunkle started the inning rough. A pair of walks to both Jeremy and Ezra Swanson, plus a catcher’s interference call to Gage Park, loaded the bases once again. This then led to three consecutive runs as Matthew Brubaker drew a bases-loaded walk, then two RBI-singles by Dylan Bash and Andrew Brubaker cut the lead to one, 4-3. Kunkle gave one more bases-loaded walk, and was pulled once the score was tied up.
Relief pitcher Aiden Finn didn’t have much success, giving up one run before Ayden Sutika came in to close out the inning. He would give up one more run before the inning closed, but Curwensville was staring up at a 6-4 gap.
That was all the motivation they needed as over the next three innings, they would get right back into the ball game.
In the fourth, Fegert managed to cut the lead down to one run as he scored on a ground out by Kunkle. An inning later, Fegert himself would put the Tide up for good, connecting on a two-ball, no strike shot to left field with the bases loaded. The three-RBI double gave Curwensville an 8-6 lead. The Tide got two more runs in the sixth courtesy of an RBI-single by Ayden Sutika, and a groundout by Pierce which allowed Lawson Neiswender to round home.
Despite the 10-6 defecit, Brockway came back in the bottom of the sixth when a sacrifice fly by Matthew Brubaker brought in a pair of runs. Dylan Bash scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead down to one, but that was as close as they would get.
Getting the win on opening day was Ayden Sutika, as he only gave up two runs with only one hit in his three innings of relief. Fegert earned the save with in 1.2 innings of relief to close out the game. Jeremy Swanson got tagged with the loss on this day, giving up five runs in two innings work.
Curwensville (1-0) will start the home portion of their schedule on Thursday afternoon when they host Juniata Valley. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m.
SCORE BY INNING
Curwensville 004 132 0 – 10 13 2
Brockway 006 003 0 – 9 5 1
Curwensville – 10
Christian Fegert-cf/p 5244, Evan McCartney-cr 0000, Andrew Pentz-c 4110, Logan Kunkle-p/ss 4112, Ayden Sutika-p/3b 5122, Lawson Neiswender-1b 4110, Alex Smith-ss/cf 3010, Caden Pierce-3b/ss 1101, Merek Sutika-lf 4011, Tristan Wills-rf 3110, Cael Butler-2b 3210. TOTALS 36 10 13 10.
Brockway – 9
Jeremy Swanson-2b/p 4100, Gage Park-lf/2b 2200, Ezra Swanson-p/lf 0200, Matthew Brubaker-ss 1101, Dylan Bash-c 4221, Andrew Brubaker-3b/p 4131, Chad Young-1b 4000, Eric Lindemuth-cf 3001, Logan Faith-rf 2001. TOTALS 24 9 5 5.
- LOB: 9/8
- E: Pentz, Pierce/Young
- ROE: Smith/M. Brubaker
- 2B: Fegert-2, Smith
- SF: M. Brubaker
- FC: Neiswender, Smith
- HBP: Kunkle, Pentz/M. Brubaker, E. Swanson-2
- CI: Park
- SB: Fegert-3, Kunkle-2, Pentz/Park, J. Swanson-2, E. Swanson
- CS: Lindemuth
PITCHING
- Curwensville: Kunkle-2 IP, 0 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 SO, 4 BB; Finn-0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB; A. Sutika-3 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 SO, 2 BB; Fegert-1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 SO, 1 BB.
- Brockway: E. Swanson-4 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 SO, 0 BB; J. Swanson-2 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 SO, 2 BB; A. Brubaker-1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 SO, 0 BB.
W-A. Sutika (1-0)
L-J. Swanson (0-1)
Save – Fegert (1)